Quintet Quest
by lilaclily00
Summary: Al comes back from his time in Xing and reunites with his brother, Winry, and friends in Central. Soon after his arrival, though, a certain mysterious figure appears and sends a group of five to an unknown land, one where the rules of what's possible or not are crazy different... Who sent them there, for what purpose, and will they be able to get back home? Post-FMA:B/manga, AU.
1. Chapter 1: Four Years Later

**AN: We don't own FMA or its chars, just our plot and our OC's**

 **Acknowledgements: Credit for our title goes to Scaehime, our friend from FanFiction dot net (often shortened to ffnet or FFN).**

 **Lily: A wild Esmi and Lily and Scae appeared! :D**

 **Esmi/Mizu: It's Esmereilda on ffnet aka Mizuha-chan on Wattpad. ^^ You can call me either Esmi or Mizu if ya want. ^^**

 **Lily: And I go by many names... But most just choose Lily. XD**

 **Esmi: XD I think you go by LilacLily on both sites, right?**

 **Lily: Yup! lilaclily00.**

 **Scae: I'm Scaehime on ffnet, and anonymous, if anything, on Wattpad, since I don't have an account there.**

 **Lily: Anyway, Esmi came to me with an idea to write a fic together! This is what resulted.**

 **Esmi: Yep! I will be handling our Wattpad release and you've got the ffnet release covered right, Lili?**

 **Lily: Yeah! Teamwork! :D**

 **Esmi: YAY 4 Teamwork *pumps air with fist***

 **Scae: Btw, I'm not one of the authors of this fic, but I'm good friends with them both, and I've agreed to beta read their creation.**

 **Lily: (author12306 is also beta reading. :3)** **Just so you guys know, this fic is slightly AU. So if something looks weird, that was on purpose. :P All will be explained!... Eventually. :}**

 **Esmi: And now on with the chapter!**

* * *

4 Years After the Promised Day

"Really? _This_ again?"

"Yes, this again." Mustang acted cool and calm as he sat at his desk with his chin resting on his clasped hands, though he let a smirk through his façade. He was clearly enjoying the Elric's reaction. Not to say he wasn't also internally dreading the whole event; it most likely meant more property damage he'd have to pay for, after all. "Grumman heard about the fight we had a few years back, which he wasn't there to witness. And he knows the State Alchemist recertification deadline is coming up. So-"

"He wants me to amuse him so I can keep my watch. Wow." Ed sighed deeply, rubbing the side of his head with his hand. He was starting to doubt how good of a president the old geezer would be if he spent his time in office doing things like making State Alchemists fight each other. He was always up for a spar, of course, but it wasn't as fun if someone else was telling him he had to do it.

"So do you accept the order or not, Fullmetal?" Mustang asked, looking pleased with himself.

"Yeah, you self-righteous jerk, I can't exactly refuse it since it's a direct order from the flippin' _Fuhrer._ " The blond huffed, but then seemed to think of an idea that caused a sly grin to come onto his face. " _But,_ I don't think a _rematch_ would be that bad."

The black-haired general's smirk started to slip in confusion. "Excuse me?"

Apparently, both had forgotten the presence of Lt. Colonel Hawkeye, who remained always standing by Mustang's side, for they subtly jumped in surprise when she spoke up. "I believe Edward means that you would have to be his opponent, sir."

"According to _this_ ," Ed began to say in a nonchalant manner, pointing to the copy of his written order in his hand, "I don't have a specified opponent; I just need to fight someone with skills."

"You _do_ have skills, sir."

Mustang gaped at Hawkeye for a second before he caught his bearings and thought up a rebuttal for Fullmetal. " _Anyone_ would be considered 'someone with skills' compared to _you,_ especially if being tall is considered a skill."

"DANG IT, MUSTANG! I'VE GROWN AT LEAST 5 INCHES AND YOU KNOW THAT!"

"Ah, yes, you're right." The older man put a hand over his eyes as if searching. "I can now _just barely_ see the top of your head over the edge of my desk."

"OH YEAH?! Well, I have more usefulness in my automail pinky finger than you do in your whole body when it's raining!"

Mustang's expression darkened at the classic "uselessness" jab, but he retorted just as fast. "I find that hard to believe when you're smaller than a single raindrop."

Ed's easily-provoked temper showed in his red face, but Hawkeye did not give him a chance to make a comeback. "Leave the banter for the battlefield, Edward." She gave a pointed glare to her superior, making him quickly clam up. "You too, General."

"Yes, Lt. Colonel," both males muttered, causing her to softly smile in satisfaction.

"So, uh, do you know when this is supposed to happen?" the blond alchemist asked once he had the nerve to speak up again.

"It is a week from tomorrow, so they can prepare the parade-grounds again for what will inevitably be a... _messy_ fight."

"Perfect. Al will be here to witness me smash your smug face!"

Mustang ignored the insult in favor of focusing on the first part of his sentence. "Has he been in Xing two years already?"

The blond's face softened, clearly happy to know that soon he'd get to see his brother again. "Yeah. His train to Central will arrive on Tuesday. Just watch, he's going to come back with a new wardrobe and accent."

v^_^v

Ed and Winry stood anxiously by the benches, not even bothering to sit down while they waited; they were too jumpy and needed to move around.

Winry's train had just barely made it to Central a few hours earlier, so Ed had helped her take her stuff to his dorm before they rushed back to the station to wait for Al to arrive.

Winry was currently bouncing on the balls of her feet and glancing around everywhere, even though she knew the young man she searched for couldn't possibly be there yet. At a point, her gaze landed on Ed's right arm. He didn't bother wearing gloves that day, so his metal hand glistened in plain sight.

"When's the last time I checked up on your automail?" she inquired while brandishing her favorite wrench, mildly surprising Ed with the sudden starting of a conversation.

"Uh, about three months ago, I think," he calculated after a few seconds of looking down, one hand on his chin.

"Hm. Well, since I'm already here, we should take some time to do another tune-up, then."

"My arm and leg feel fine, but sure," he shrugged back, figuring there was no harm in letting her look at them, especially because _this_ time she wouldn't feel the need to bash his head in for ruining his automail. He _was_ capable of keeping them in one piece!

Except there was going to be a crazy fight with Mustang in a few days...

"Ya know, you can, uh, stay for a bit longer than originally planned... It's no problem at all..."

She lifted up an eyebrow (along with her wrench). "You're right, I could, but-as much as I love Al-I have a business to run back home, and I don't want to be gone for too long. Do you _want_ me to stick around for longer?"

Ed's eyes widened, not wanting to let her in on the fight until it was too late. The last time he mentioned something about possibly ruining his automail, things didn't go very well. "Nonono, it's not _me,_ I was thinking... that Al would want to hang out more! He's been gone for so long, you know, and we're all so close...!"

The blonde was clearly still skeptical, but wasn't in the mood to argue. "Alright then, I'll ask when he gets here." Saying that sentence suddenly triggered back up both their anxiousness, but more excitement was thrown in this time. It'd been _two years,_ after all; who _wouldn't_ be excited?

Approximately 11 minutes and 43 seconds later (of _course_ Ed wasn't counting, what gave _that_ idea?), a whistle accompanied by loud clattering began in the distance. Ed and Winry quickly scurried closer to glimpse the new train and hoped with all their might that Al was on it.

A few minutes after that, the train finally slowed to a stop in front of the benches, and both decided to stand on one of the said benches to make it easier to spot the familiar golden-haired boy. Once the majority of the crowd had cleared out of the train, they found him. Though he looked a little different (in age, shade of skin, and wardrobe), there was no mistaking Alphonse Elric.

"AL!" both blonds shouted excitedly, waving their arms around crazily. They got a few weird looks, but they couldn't care less-especially since it worked in grabbing the younger Elric's attention. They could see his face light up with a grin as he turned in their direction and then fought through the sea of people to reach them. Ed and Winry promptly ignored the fact that Al was holding luggage, proceeding to attack him with a giant hug.

"Brother! Winry!" Once he caught his balance, he dropped his suitcase and returned the embrace even tighter. "I missed you guys!"

"Same here, Al," Winry replied, voice muffled with her face pressed against him.

After a minute they all finally let go, and a realization registered in Ed's brain. "Wait a minute, you're even taller now!" he pouted, having to look up to meet his brother's amused facial expression. "That's so unfair!"

"We already knew I had a bit more growing to do," Al simply said with a shrug, but his face showed he was enjoying his older sibling's antics. By this point, they could hear his voice actually had a bit of an accent, just as they predicted would happen, but neither commented on it.

Ed paused as he thought of something. "How tall is May now? She was so tiny before."

"Oh, she's just a little under Winry's height now," Al replied as he studied Ed and Winry's appearances a little more. "She was really wishing she could come visit Amestris again, but she has too many responsibilities now."

"Jeez, I can't imagine that little rice girl as a leader of a whole clan," Ed grumbled. He spotted Al's suitcase and remembered they actually had things to do. "Oh yeah, we should probably get out of here. I'd rather not continue to be squished by tons of strangers."

The other two in their little trio agreed wholeheartedly and climbed their way out of the train station, lugging a giant suitcase with them, all the way to Ed's military dorm a few blocks away.

* * *

 **Lily: K, just me now, specifically to FFN peeps! 1. You guys are awesome, and I hope you like this story! It'll get really interesting, I promise! 2. I am writing the next chapter for "Visiting Homeland" (which has turned out to be quite a long chap, and will also have who knows how many Alts!), and am not giving up on that! 3. If someone would like to draw a cover pic for us, that would be crazy awesome! I'm considering doing one myself, but it wouldn't be the highest quality of the universe, so~**

 **Thank you for reading this chapter! :3 K bai!**


	2. Chapter 2: An Unexpected Reunion

**AN: Disclaimer: We own nothing but any OCs that pop up in the future. Yep.**

 **Lily: Hey-o! :D My, it's been a while.**

 **Esmi: Yea XP**

 **Lily: Explanation=life. Anyway, our betas are hard at work, and now the first chapter is officially betad, and everything from here on is betad too (besides our ANs, cuz eh, whatever). Yay! In case ya didn't catch the addition to the first AN, I said that things are somewhat AU (and this is 4 years after the Promised Day). One change has been mentioned in passing already and will be fully explained later, and this chapter has the other thing that's different from canon. Hehehe.**

 **Esmi: *slaps a hand over Lili's mouth* OK that's enough out of you or you're gunna spoil the whole chapter for the readers**

 **Lily: *is tempted to lick her hand* *muffled grumbling***

 **Esmi: Well then. On with the chapter *drags Lili out of the room before she gets any more bright ideas***

* * *

An Unexpected Reunion

"Are you serious, Al?!" Winry was holding her fork inches from her face, her meal of pasta and salad completely forgotten for a few seconds. " _Elephants?!_ "

Alphonse leaned over the table at the open-air cafe with a grin as he continued his story, quite excited he'd get to share his adventures with them in person. "He and his lackeys also had guns. The only thing I had to defend myself with was my alkahestry."

"So they were _shooting_ at you from the backs of _elephants_ and you managed to evade _all_ of them?" Ed raised his eyebrow at his little brother, stuffing his sandwich into his mouth after the question.

Al swallowed a bite of his own Reuben sandwich before continuing his story. "I was on a horse, so at least I wasn't on foot, but I _did_ get shot in the stomach, and a few other bullets grazed me." Al lifted up his shirt sleeve to show a small scar on his upper arm near his shoulder. "The prince also knew some alkahestry, so that made things even harder."

"Wait, you don't mean Ling, do you?" Ed questioned at the "prince" part.

"Huh? Oh, I thought I already mentioned that the guy attacking us was the prince of one of the other rival clans."

"No, you didn't!" Winry shouted, her fork bending as her grip tightened. She had never learned much about Xingese politics. "Oops," she added when she noticed Ed's eyes glancing back and forth between her face and her hand.

"Huh. Okay, I'll admit it was one of the... _flashier_ attempts to get rid of May, but it wasn't really that unexpected since she's closer to Ling than most of the other princes and princesses, and being buddy-buddy with the emperor makes her a threat. In their eyes, at least." Al shrugged, but then his grin came back as he resumed the story. "So, at one point, when I'd circled around to the other side of him, the prince's elephant started to turn, and I took that opportunity to jump off the horse onto the elephant."

"Please tell me you started punching him in the face," Ed said as he felt himself get giddy.

"Once I could reach him, I started punching him in the face!" he chirped back.

"YES!" The elder Elric started cheering, fist-bumping with his brother.

"That's where this story ends, right?" Winry asked, a little uneasy at the possibility of things getting even more violent.

"Actually, no."

"Aw, great."

"What happened is that the elephant started getting confused on what it was supposed to do because its reins were being pulled in random directions, and so it accidentally started stepping off a cliff."

"A cliff." Winry gave him a deadpan stare, clearly unamused. "You _fell_ off a _cliff_."

Al averted his eyes and focused on his plate instead. "Well, yeah, by then it was too late to jump off the elephant, so... we got dragged down with it."

"And how did you survive _that?_ " Ed asked incredulously.

"May saved the day, actually. She transmuted the cliff to catch all of us before we fell all the way down."

"That's good," the girl in the trio sighed, relieved to know that no one had died. "I wonder why she didn't show up earlier, though."

"I think she was inside the palace when the attack began, so it took her a bit to get there to help me."

"So _now_ the story ends, right?"

"Yeah. Besides me transmuting us up so that we were put back on safe ground, and the servants coming to take us all inside, that's the end."

"That's it? But what happened to the prince?" Ed frowned.

"I'm not entirely sure. I was hoping he'd get arrested, but I don't think that actually happened. Whatever the case, he definitely didn't get off scot-free."

Al's brother seemed like he was about to retort when he blinked at something-actually, some _one-_ who had just walked over from the shop across the street. Ed wore a mildly surprised but pleased smile. "Hi, Mrs. Hughes!"

Al stiffened and spun his head to see that, indeed, behind him were Gracia and Elicia Hughes, the latter now about 7 or 8 years old, and both looked happy to see the trio. "Miss Gracia! Elicia!"

"We heard a certain young man was coming home today," the Hughes matriarch teased lightly as Al got up out of his seat to hug both the woman and her little girl.

"It's great to see you!" He grinned as he picked up Elicia and spun her around, drawing out an excited shriek from her, followed by giggles. "Wow, you're so big now!"

"We made a pie for you!" she told him as Ed and Winry stood up to greet the Hughes pair too. "You're supposed to come over to our house to eat it."

"Well, I'm already stuffed from what we just ate, but I'll eat some pie anyways," Winry chuckled, nodding toward the cafe where the trio had bought their food.

"We're _supposed_ to?" Ed repeated, turning to Elicia and putting his hands on his hips. "And what if we don't want to come over?" he asked, just to see how she would react.

She seemed thrown off by the question, but quickly gave him a comeback. "Then I'll drag you all the way there!"

Everyone laughed together and sent each other more quips. Ed, Al, and Winry had basically finished their meals by then, so they paid the waiter and left with Gracia and Elicia to their humble abode.

v^-^v

As the small group turned the corner to enter the Hughes apartment, Gracia gave the young adults a sweet smile. "He's going to be so excited to see the three of you."

"It's been a while, huh?" Ed smiled back, as did Winry, but Al look confused.

"Wait, who?"

"Oh, yeah, you don't know," Winry mused.

"You didn't tell him?" Gracia said surprisedly as she fished her keys out of her pocket to unlock the door.

"He was in Xing at the time, so….." Ed trailed off innocently, but he wore a look that was mostly smug yet ever-so-slightly apologetic upon noticing Winry's unamused look.

"What didn't you tell me?!" Al suddenly felt nervous at that explanation. It must've been something important for Miss Gracia to be so surprised... Who would be waiting behind the door?

The door swung open and Elicia skipped through first, followed by her mom. Al came in after his brother and friend, and so he was the last to see the person sitting down in the living room.

Said person had short black hair all gelled back except for one stubborn piece at the front that rebelled. Simple frames sat on the bridge of his nose, covering his hazel eyes, and a beard was just barely starting to grow on the lower half of his face. On the left side of his forehead was a curious scar in the rough form of a small, concave circle that Alphonse recognized all too well as a bullet wound. He also happened to be wearing bright pink ducky pajamas.

Al gaped, the realization of who he was standing in front of just barely processing through his head. "...M-Mr. Hughes?!"

Maes-yes, it was _really him_ -looked over, and belatedly started grinning at the new arrivals. "Ed! Winry!" He grunted as he pushed himself off the couch and stepped forward to give them hugs. "It's been _forever_ since you dropped by!"

Winry giggled and fondly smiled as she hugged him. "Not _that_ long, Mr. Hughes."

Al glanced over to his brother with a million questions visible on his face, the most prominent being 'Is this really happening?!'

Ed silently responded with his eyes that 'Yes, this is real.'

Al retaliated with a glare that said, 'I'm _so_ going to kill you later for not telling me' before both returned to the present and realized that Hughes was staring at the younger Elric.

"I'm not sure we've met before," Maes started, putting on a polite smile. He started shaking Al's hand as he introduced himself. "My name is Maes Hughes. And you are?"

Al felt his stomach drop as his eyes drifted again to the bullet wound on Maes's forehead. If he was shot in the head, he'd be suffering brain damage. Maybe Mr. Hughes didn't even remember him anymore...

"I'm, um, Alphonse Elric, sir..."

Hughes blinked at him, then after a few seconds of thinking he looked over to the other occupants of the room. "But Al's a suit of armor, isn't he?"

Alphonse (and surely the others, too) breathed a silent sigh of relief while Ed stepped in. "He got his body back, so this is what Al actually looks like."

The older man's eyes widened and he turned back to study Alphonse's appearance with awe. "WOW! CONGRATULATIONS, AL!" he suddenly blurted loudly, vigorously shaking the blond's hand so much Al's head bobbed up and down with it. "You've become a fine young man! And you look so much like Ed! Congratulations to you both for reaching your goal!" He used his other arm to shake hands with Ed in the same way, too, though it wasn't as strong, due to that arm being his injured one.

"Th _ank_ you, _M_ r. Hu _ghes_ ," Al managed to say while being thrown up and down, and Hughes took that as the cue to finally let the two Elrics go.

"You'll have to tell me how you two did it!" Hughes continued, just as Gracia popped her head out of the kitchen. (When it was that she had left the room, the Elric brothers didn't know.)

"Let's let them talk while we all share the pie," she suggested, carrying an apple pie over to the dining table.

"Well, sure, but... I was also wondering..." Al looked to his brother for help on how to phrase the question.

"How am I alive?" Maes finished. The blond gave a small, sheepish nod in confirmation. The older man ran his hand through his black hair with a tired smile. "Honestly, I don't remember any of it myself, but Ed and my beautiful wife can fill you in."

Everyone shuffled over to the table to enjoy a slice of pie, but the mood quickly became much more serious. Elicia stayed in her own little world while the adults exchanged stories.

v^-^v ~ _Flashback_!~ v^-^v

Hughes breathed heavily and fought to stay conscious as he finally stumbled into the phone booth and picked up the handset. He pressed the phone between his ear and shoulder to dial with his uninjured arm and pleaded for the call to go through quickly.

" _Sir, this is a military line_ ; _civilians are not allowed to use it."_

"I know, I'm not a civilian! I'm calling from an outside line because it's an emergency! Put me in to Colonel Mustang!"

" _Sir-"_

"The military is in grave danger!" he shouted, already frustrated with the operator and not wanting to deal with her nonsense.

" _I need the code, sir-"_

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" He threw out a few swears under his breath as he dug out his little notebook out of his pocket that contained the code. He shouted out the sequence to the operator. He dropped the notebook on top of the phonebox to free his hand and use it to put pressure on his deep shoulder wound again.

" _Thank you, sir. You will be through in a minute."_

"Make it quick!" he grunted out as his shoulder's pain spiked for a moment. He really did not have the time and desire to be polite at the moment.

He froze as he suddenly heard the click of the safety being taken off of a gun behind him.

He slowly turned to find 2nd Lt. Maria Ross pointing said gun at him. "Hang up now, sir."

He felt blood moving through his fingers, spreading through his jacket, and a harsh headache coming on, but nonetheless his mind was sharp enough to notice something was off with the Lieutenant besides her looking uncharacteristically ready to kill him. "You're not Lt. Ross. Who are you?"

The imposter blinked, but returned to giving him a cold stare. "I _am_ her."

"Lt. Ross has a mole under her left eye."

The fake Ross was caught and both knew it. Therefore, she completely dropped the act, allowing a wicked grin to spread over her face. "How's this, then?" she asked as she placed a finger on her face where he had indicated. A spark of red zapped there and a mole appeared.

Hughes forgot his pain in a second of pure shock, but only hesitated so much before throwing one of his handy knives into the disguised monster's head and began pleading into the phone again.

"Mustang, please be there, _please_ be there!"

He heard the familiar faint buzz of transmutation behind him, and he dared to look over his shoulder again.

The remains of red-tinted sparks showed at the tips of her hair, but otherwise, the monster now looked exactly like the love of his life. The fake Gracia even had her sweet small smile. "You wouldn't hurt your _wife_ , would you?" the imposter said before that sick grin came onto her face again.

The call had just barely made it through to Mustang in time for him to hear his best friend cry out " _ROY!"_ and a subsequent gunshot on the other end.

T_T Flashback Continued T_T

Maria Ross sped down the steps of the entrance to Central Command, keeping a calm facade as she started to search for Lt. Col. Hughes. She had been ordered to find where he had gone and why, for an officer had reported seeing him leave the building while bleeding heavily. Obviously, it was a suspicious and disconcerting thing to see, and they wanted to know what was going on. Though Ross wasn't particularly sure why they chose _her_ to go find Hughes, she was determined to help him out. She was just barely beginning her trek on the sidewalk when she heard the voice of Hughes pleading loudly with someone not too far off in the distance. This, coupled with the knowledge that Hughes was injured when he disappeared, had her fearing the worst. She drew her weapon and hurried faster towards the voices.

The closer she got, the more she got a nagging feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach. It grew to the point where it slowed her down. She froze when she heard Hughes desperately cry out " _ROY!"_ followed by a loud ' _ **BANG!'**_ She clamped her hands over her mouth in horror at what she saw when she peeked around the corner. Her gut told her that being caught witnessing what she had just seen would get them both killed-if Hughes wasn't dead already. She sank to the ground, back pressed firmly against the wall to make herself as unnoticeable as possible. She sat silently, waiting, waiting for Hughes's attacker to leave so so she could go check on his vital signs.

A few eternal seconds passed by, and the attacker finally seemed satisfied enough with her work to step away from the phone booth. Ross was pretty sure she could spot a mad grin on the woman's face as she walked away. The 2nd Lt. waited just long enough for the attacker to pass around the corner of the nearest block of buildings before she lifted herself off the ground and sprinted down to her superior, doing her best to gulp down her terror.

" _Hughes! Respond, Hughes! HUGHES!"_ came what sounded a whole lot like Col. Mustang's voice from the receiver just dangling over the Lt. Col.'s body, which almost miraculously still had a pulse, before she realized she should probably answer the phone.

Ross shakily took in a breath, gingerly picked up the receiver, and asked, "Col. Mustang...?"

" _What? Lt. Ross, why are you there, and what happened to Hughes?"_

"Well... I don't really know, sir, but I… I know that he was shot in the head and is somehow still clinging to life." There was obvious panic underlying Ross's attempt to keep a calm tone in her voice, and despite her military training, she was struggling to not fidget.

She heard a sharp intake of breath on the other end at the news. " _I-in the_ head _?!"_ Mustang gave himself exactly 2 seconds to compose himself and then began to speak again. " _Lt. Ross-"_

" _Sir, might I suggest not involving the military here until we have more information on what happened?"_ came 1st Lt. Hawkeye's voice over the phone, interrupting Col. Mustang before he could give an order.

There was another pause as Mustang seemed to think about what she was implying. " _Lt. Ross,"_ he began again, " _do you know Dr. Knox?"_

"Knox? Why him?" Ross blurted out in confusion, then glanced back to her superior's body and her resolve returned. Surely, Mustang knew what he was doing.

" _Enough questions, 2nd Lt. Just take Hughes there-NOW!"_ Col. Mustang snapped at the phone before slamming it down like he had done to Hughes himself countless times in the past.

Ross did not hear this part of the conversation, but he had then quickly ordered Lt. Hawkeye to hurry down to Dr. Knox's house, too, to ensure that Hughes survived and that Knox knew to keep things quiet.

Ross blinked at the sudden silence on the other end, but took no more time to hang up the handset and spring into action. She started another call and attained Knox's number from the operator, and after asking for his address, she again hung up and carefully started attempting to lift Hughes off the phone booth's floor. He was bigger and heavier than she, and was practically all dead weight-no, she couldn't allow herself to think like that-and barely managed to drag his body out of the booth.

That was when she heard yet another male voice from a distance, this time calling for _her._

"LT. ROSS! WHERE ARE YOU?" he called out worriedly. She sagged in relief, not having realized she had gone stiff, as she realized it was her partner, Brosh, and then thought of the potential here. He most likely had his car nearby. However, there was also obvious danger if he did find her, because she knew how bad he was at keeping secrets.

She groaned pitifully as she glanced back down to the man she was trying to keep off the ground, knowing what she had to do but not particularly liking the idea.

"Don't you _dare_ die, Lt. Colonel," she demanded in a harsh whisper as she laid her superior on the pavement and sprinted toward Brosh's voice.

Ross turned the corner and swiftly hit her partner on the back of his head before he even noticed her appearance, effectively knocking him out cold. She snatched his car keys and pocketed them, then carefully helped his limp body to the ground safely. After finding where he parked his car, which was thankfully close by, she drove it to where she had managed to drag Hughes. Upon maneuvering him into the car, she sped to get Hughes to Dr. Knox before it was too late.

^-^' More of the same flashback... Yup. ^-^'

 _DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGG! DING! DING! DIIIIIINNNNGGGGG!_

"WILL YOU STOP RINGING MY DOORBELL ALREADY?!" Dr. Knox shouted angrily as he whipped open his door to "greet" his guest.

"Col.-Mustang-sent-me-here-you-need-to-save-Lt.-Col.-Hughes!" All the words tumbled out, leaving Ross out of breath by the time she finished, but she was still fervently dragging the now very bewildered Dr. Knox towards Brosh's car and Hughes' unconscious form.

"I'm too old for this," he grumbled before he saw the condition of the Lt. Col. and sobered up to the severity of the situation. While he took Hughes inside to try to save his life, he had Ross go ditch the car somewhere, saying he didn't want it sitting in front of his place.

* * *

 **Lily: Welp. This started with** _ **Indiana Jones**_ **and ended with** _ **Mission: Impossible**_ **.**

 **Esmi: Yep and I bet the suspense is killin' our dear readers right about now**

 **Lily: You learn really fast on FFN how to torture people and be a cliffhanging jerk, so. :P**

 **Esmi: Well we did work really hard to build the suspense in this chapter too though.**

 **Lily: Many an hour working on our masterpiece led to this moment. :'3**

 **Esmi: XD**

 **Lily: Hope you guys liked this chapter and wanna see what's in store for all the characters, cuz it's a lot~ I should stop before Esmi tries to quiet me again. ^^'**

 **Esmi: So you can teach an old dog new tricks XD**

 **Lily: *childishly sticks out tongue***

 **Esmi: Plz RF &F ^^ Ja Ne**

 **Lily: Bye! :D**


	3. Chapter 3: A Long Night's Day

**AN: Esmi: We don't own FMA which belongs to Hiromu Arakawa**

 **Lily:** **Hi, guys! It's been... *checks calendar* ...Waaay too long. Oops. ._.'**

 **Esmi: Yea…. *blames life and lack of betas***

 **Lily: But hey, we're back! Did you miss us? :D**

 **Esmi: We have big news too!**

 **Lily: Yeah! We have a new beta!**

 **Esmi: Introducing YueSarutobi from Wattpad *Pulls Yue-chan into the AN***

 **Yue: Hello everyone! I want caffeine!**

 **Esmi: *raids my coworker's Monster stash and hands one to Yue-chan***

 **Yue: Also wants a big chocolate chip cookie!**

 **Lily: *smirks, as she is eating the last cookie***

 **Esmi: Srry fresh out of those ^^' So, without further ado on with the chapter ^^**

 **Lily: *begins magical flashback sounds***

 **Esmi: XD**

* * *

Ch. 3 A Long Night's Day

^-^ If you thought we were done with flashbacks... ^-^

The arrival of another person was signaled by a firm knock on Dr. Knox's front door.

As the doctor was occupied with saving his new patient, Lt. Ross rose from the couch to answer the door in his stead. She was surprised to see 1st Lt. Hawkeye on the porch. She began to salute her superior officer, but the blonde ignored it and slipped past her to enter the house.

"How is the lieutenant colonel doing?" Hawkeye asked as she studied the interior of the home.

Ross stood straight as she gave her answer. "Doctor Knox has refused to give me a status update. It is too delicate a situation to know at this moment. All I know is that the lieutenant colonel is still breathing, though barely."

Hawkeye nodded in response, but the nod gave nothing away as to what she was thinking. "Then all we can do is wait?"

Ross glanced over to the hallway that led to the room Knox was working in, then looked down to the floor. "Yes, ma'am."

Both women silently moved to the couch and sat down. After a few seconds, Hawkeye spoke again. "Second Lieutenant, I need a full report of the events leading up to when you spoke with Col. Mustang so I can brief him on the situation."

Ross winced, but regained her composure within milliseconds. She nodded and stared at the wall without really seeing it as she explained what had happened, from the moment she had been given her orders up to when she had gotten a glimpse of Hughes's assailant, before she was interrupted.

"Do you remember anything about the attacker's appearance?" the blonde first lieutenant asked. Ross blinked and then furrowed her eyebrows as she attempted to recall anything of worth.

"I... I remember that the attacker was a woman," she began slowly. "And had short hair-probably brown, though it was harder to tell, since it was dark. She looked strangely familiar, though I'm not sure why." She paused for another moment before she seemed to have an epiphany. "She might have resembled someone from one of the pictures the lieutenant colonel. showed me before! **...** But I really can't say for sure."

That was enough for Hawkeye to figure out where she was going with this. "Are you saying the attacker looked like Gracia, his wife?"

"I don't know for sure since I only caught a glimpse of the attacker." Ross cast her gaze on the floor since she didn't have a better answer to give.

"Right, we should not jump to conclusions. Beyond appearance, this sounds nothing like Gracia." Nonetheless, Hawkeye stored that bit of information into her brain, even if Lt. Ross was hesitant to confirm whether it was true or not. "Please continue with the report, then."

Ross took a deep breath and continued with the retelling of events, which only took a few minutes more.

"...That was when I heard Colonel Mustang's voice coming from the phone, and so I picked it up and spoke with him," she finished. "I used Sergeant Brosh's car to bring Lieutenant Colonel Hughes here, and have been here since then."

Hawkeye finished with her mental note-taking before giving a nod of appreciation. Now with the past out of the way, both could focus on the present... which, considering how Dr. Knox still hadn't come out to give them any news, wasn't looking so great.

Neither could bring themselves to talk about anything else due to the current situation, and so both stayed silent in the living room, straining to hear anything from the other end of the house.

After what felt like an eternity later, they heard slow footsteps coming toward them. Knox finally made an appearance, his face as grave as ever.

"Is he alive?" Hawkeye asked, getting straight to the point.

"Yes, he is," the doctor sighed deeply. "Whether he is actually in good condition, however, I doubt it." He began to dig through his pocket for a cigarette as he listed off the diagnosis. "As expected, he has brain damage, and not exactly mild at that. His shoulder is just about ruined, though he may recover some limited use of his arm if it heals well and he does enough proper therapy. He's also lost too much blood, so he won't wake up until his body comes up with enough supply again."

While Ross and Knox were trying solve Hughes's lack-of-blood problem, Hawkeye decided to go make a phone call. As she stood to leave, she addressed the doctor in a firm tone, "You may already be aware, but the colonel wanted you to keep this situation away from prying ears."

"Of course he does," the doctor grunted. "I knew he'd order me around the moment you showed up. Why else would you have brought a half-dead guy to my doorstep?"

Hawkeye nodded, knowing that he was going to keep his mouth shut even if he didn't directly say so, and returned to picking up the handset.

The call was picked up after only two rings. " _Lieutenant Hawkeye?"_

She was about to begin a report to her superior, but a thought stopped her, and she instead began a different sentence. "Are you alone, sir?"

" _Yes. Report his status."_

She deemed it safe to continue. "He's alive. He's in critical condition, but he'll pull through, according to the doctor."

She could hear Mustang shakily let out the breath he was holding, most likely bowing his head down in sweet, sweet relief. " _That's... that's good."_

"However, due to somewhat alarming information given to me by Lieutenant Ross, we have deemed it unsafe to let out the fact that he survived."

She knew he surely froze, a cold feeling settling in his chest even more than in her own. After all, she made it clear that this was a deliberate attack on his best friend's life.

" _Good call, Lieutenant. Thank Knox and Ross for me, please."_

"Will do, sir, and I will give you more information tomorrow morning." Hawkeye planned to spend the night there to keep watch for Mustang. It was the least she could do.

" _Make sure you get at least an hour or two of sleep, Lieutenant."_

She knew he needed her awake and refreshed to tackle finding whoever did this horrible thing to Hughes, and that he would not stop until the monster was found. They both knew that.

"Same with you, sir."

v^-^v finally the flashback ends XD v^-^v

The forks had stopped clattering long before the tale was ended (and Elicia had excused herself from the table after finishing off her own plate), but now the air was more curious than tense. All the young blonds were working their brains plenty over the information given, and they had a hard time choosing the questions they wanted to ask.

"So when was it that you guys decided it was okay for him to come home?" Al settled on for his first question.

"I'm assuming it was after the Promised Day, right?" Ed looked over to Gracia to confirm.

She bowed her head and smiled sadly. "Actually, Colonel Mustang brought him home a few days before that. He was quite convinced you would all save the country, but on the chance you failed..."

"If it weren't for the fact that we'd been deliberately hiding from the military for a while up until that day, we might've found out sooner, too," Ed informed his brother, grimacing a little.

"And when did _you guys_ find out?" Al glared accusingly at Ed and Winry.

"He tricked us," the elder Elric brother muttered, _definitely_ not with a pout. "Gracia invited us to Elicia's next birthday party, but when we showed up, Hughes said her birthday present was the hilarious look on our faces when we saw him there."

"Her birthday?" Al chewed on that for a second before blurting out, "But that was _months_ ago!"

"Only two!" Ed defended weakly, now kind of regretting not saying something to his brother sooner. "And I didn't exactly wanna share something like that if you couldn't come see for yourself yet-"

"What's done is done, and you know _now_ ," Winry interrupted. "I think there's more important things than how long we were withholding that from you." At that point, she gave a pointed stare to both brothers, reminding them she had dealt with a lot worse from them before. Yep, that shut Al up.

"Wait a minute," she then blurted as she remembered something from the retelling of Hughes's life being saved that she had not known before. "Lieutenant. Ross mentioned that the person who tried to kill Mr. Hughes looked like Miss Gracia, right? That's what you guys said?" She looked to the others around the table for confirmation. "Does that actually have any significance?"

"It does," Maes himself said, attempting to hide his facial expression from her. "I was told that Envy disguised itself as her so I would not be able to fight back."

Ed growled while glaring down the table, thinking about the day when Envy admitted to that, clearly _happy_ with how clever and heartless it was.

"How horrible!" Winry cried out, though she then wondered if she really expected a different answer when it came to those inhuman villains. What a great thing that all of that had been over for years now.

"Did Hawkeye actually tell Mustang about that?" Al questioned.

Ed wore a slightly dark look. "I'm pretty sure she did, considering when Envy bragged to us about it, Mustang was absolutely _livid_ and seemed to have heard it before."

"I was told that he was so inflamed in rage, Lieutenant Havoc needed to put him out with a bucket of water," Gracia commented innocently, completely ruining the serious atmosphere. Both Ed and Maes sputtered at imagining the scenario.

Maes couldn't contain all his snickering. "You didn't mention that earlier, sweetie," he chuckled with a grin.

She smiled right back. "Havoc was saved from a fiery death only by Roy's gloves being soaked."

This addition caused all the others to join in on the laughter.

v^-^v

Before any of them knew it, the day had ended and the moon shed its borrowed light in the stead of the sun. This meant that the visit had to end once someone noticed it was already night.

This someone happened to be Winry, who blinked in surprise at how dark it was outside, then frowned sadly at the implication. She returned her gaze to the sweetly smiling Gracia, who had just returned to the living room after cleaning everyone's dishes.

"Excuse me, Miss Gracia?" she asked, catching the older woman's attention. "As much as we'd love to stay, we should probably go so all of you can sleep."

Ed looked over to her, his attention turned away from the conversation he'd been having with Hughes. He glanced to the nearest window and sighed. "You're right, it's pretty late."

Al huffed, looking more awake than everyone else. "I forgot about the time difference between here and Xing; it's going to be _so much fun_ to get used to everything being _hours_ earlier. Just _riveting_." The sarcastic comment caused both his brother and sister-in-law to snort out a laugh.

"Well, I wish you luck with that, uh..." Hughes squinted at the youngest blond. "What's your name, again?" Once everyone in the room seemed to have visibly felt a spike of fear, he laughed aloud. "Just kidding, Al!"

"Don't do that to us!" Ed shouted angrily after realizing that that was just a joke, the others wholeheartedly nodding their heads in agreement as they regained their composure. No one but the prankster himself particularly appreciated the scare.

Gracia returned to the original topic, recovering to her normal smile. "I suppose it is best for you three to return home; I'm sure you have many plans tomorrow to enjoy being all together again."

"We're going to be expecting another visit soon, though, since you guys are staying in Central!" her husband added.

"Of course, Mr. Hughes!" Winry chirped as everyone stood up.

Hugs were sent around, including to a sleepy Elicia when she'd been fetched to say goodbye to their visitors, and the two families waved to each other as the one composed of blonds exited out the front door.


	4. Chapter 4: An Earth Shattering Prelude

**AN: Esmi: We don't own FMA which belongs to Hiromu Arakawa**

 **Lily: Hello! Be prepared to be amazed by this** _ **ground-breaking**_ **chapter! :D**

 **Esmi: *clamps a hand over Lili's mouth* SHHHHHHH!**

 **Lily: *pries hand off* *way too pleased with herself* Hehe, puns are great.**

 **Yue: They said that they would give me a cookie, but they lied.**

 **Lily: I was planning to get some for you, I promise!**

 **Yue: Before or after my clothes are no longer in style?**

 **Esmi: *swipes one of Lili's cookies and throws it at Yue-chan* Catch!**

 **Lily: Joke's on you! That one has raisins!**

 **Esmi: *shrugs* she asked for a cookie so I gave her one.**

 **Yue: It's still a cookie, so I'll eat it anyway!**

 **Lily: ...Guess who's gonna get all the raisin cookies now, cuz** _ **I'm**_ **certainly not gonna eat 'em.**

 **Yue: Mwahahahaha! My cookies! I don't share! :p\**

 **Esmi: you sound like Gollum from LOTR XD**

 **Yue: Cookies are my preciouses! I'm not sharing my preciouses! ^w^**

 **Lily: This story is my preeecioouusssss, so let's get on with the fic! :D**

 **Esmi: *returns Gollum and the Ring to the LOTR-verse* ok** _ **now**_ **on with the chapter!**

* * *

Ch. 4 An Earth Shattering Prelude

"I can't believe you're getting into _another_ fight, Ed!"

"This one literally isn't my fault, though!" the blond complained to Winry exasperatedly, even though he knew it probably wouldn't amount to anything, as they began their walk to Central Command.

"I have a hard time believing that!"

"You know how Old Man Grumman can be! He's so..."

"Eccentric?" Al supplied quietly.

"I was thinking more along the lines of 'insanely weird', but that works too."

"Only you would call the Fuhrer that, Ed," a voice said behind them with a chuckle, surprising the group. They all turned around to find the three members of the Hughes family there.

"Hughes! What are you doing following us?" the elder Elric brother questioned, raising his brow.

"I don't wanna miss out on the show! And, well, I don't quite remember how to get to Central," he explained with a smile, leaning on Gracia as he stepped forward. "So I'm tagging along."

"Great, now the family man's gonna tire me out before we even get to the parade grounds," Ed grumbled, though everyone knew he really didn't mind Maes's company.

"What do you mean by 'tire you out'? All I do is brighten your day with pictures of my darling daughter, who is standing right here!" Hughes looked down to Elicia with an eager grin. "Show them how cute you are!"

She pulled an adorable expression, one that would make even the hardest of hearts soften.

"That's my girl!" he praised. "Hey! Remember that teddy Miss Winry got you? He's been lonely, all by his lonesome; I bet Ed and his wife would _love_ to get him a friend." Maes looked at Ed and Winry with a mischievous smirk.

Ed gaped at him. "Why does everyone want to mooch off me?!"

"Give the man some money already!" Winry whisper-shouted, elbowing him discreetly at the sight of Elicia's puppy dog eyes.

"Why are you taking his side?! This is your money **,** too!"

" _You_ try saying no to that face!"

He let out a frustrated sigh. "Well, _I_ have places to get to, so you can stay behind and get a _teddy bear_ with him for Elicia, if you want."

"Sounds like a plan, Ed!" Hughes chirped. "But make sure you don't start without me!"

"Yeah, yeah," he muttered as he and his brother continued walking to Headquarters while the rest of the group stopped at a gift shop.

v^^v

Once everyone had arrived and the space was prepared for an intense battle, a shy private named Mick Vignogna was pushed out with a microphone to introduce the two dueling.

" _Um... So, this duel is being held for the Fullmetal Alchemist's recertification... And, um..."_ The poor man gulped at the amount of people in the crowd, but he seemed to decide he only needed to take a deep breath and start over, and so he did just that. He closed his eyes, then opened them with renewed vigor.

" _IIIIIIIN THIS CORNER! THE LEAN, MEAN, FIREBALL-THROWING MACHINE! GENERAL ROY MUSTANG, THE FLAAAAAME ALCHEMIST!"_ He pointed dramatically toward the general, who stood there calmly with a smirk, hands in his pockets.

Once the cheers and boos died down (along with a random person shouting "NO ONE LIKES YOU!"), the announcer turned a full 180º to point toward Roy's opponent.

" _AAAND IN THIS CORNER, THE HERO OF THE PEOPLE! THE YOUNGEST STATE ALCHEMIST! THE ONE WE ALL KNOW, LOVE, AND OCCASIONALLY FEAR! GIVE IT UP FOR EDWARD ELRIC, THE FUUUUULLMETALLL ALCHEMIIIST!"_

"Occasionally?" Al muttered in confusion from behind his brother, who was taking off his coat. "I'm pretty sure it's more often than that."

Ed ignored what his brother said in favor of handing the coat to the other blond. He wore a devious grin that refused to get off his face.

"Today is a great day, Al; now I get to finally beat Mustang's pompous mug in front of the whole army and get some damn respect!"

"...Didn't you say that the first time you fought him, Brother?"

"...Maybe. But I'm gonna _doubly_ kick his old, narcissistic butt _this_ time!"

As Pvt. Vignogna regained his composure and shuffled awkwardly out of the way, the cry of an angry female mechanic could be heard in the audience. "DON'T YOU DARE BREAK SOMETHING, ED, OR I SWEAR I'LL KILL YOU!"

Ed's face dropped into one of slight horror. "O-of course, wouldn't dream of it!" Despite his fear of his wife's wrath, however, her outburst actually gave him an idea for his first move in the battle.

Mustang smirked at the exchange. If things went according to his plan, Winry wasn't going to be very happy and would give little mercy to the blond runt.

Al simply sweat-dropped.

The two opponents thought to mock each other before the fight began, but they had no time to, as a loud bell was suddenly heard that signaled they were supposed to begin.

Ed smirked, ready to put his plan to action, and clapped his hands together before slamming them into the ground with gusto to summon a large catapult. Next, he transmuted a large pile of wrenches and the crowd stared dumbfoundedly, wondering what he planned to do with them. That soon became obvious as he loaded them into the catapult.

Mustang scoffed, not scared by the metal tools of doom, as he snapped his fingers. "Nice try, but it isn't going to work."

 _SNAP!_ Ed wore a shark grin as he cut the rope, causing the catapult to spring to life **,** and with a _whoosh_ sent flaming metal hurtling towards Mustang. "Thanks for making this so much better. Turns out you're not as useless as we all thought!"

Realizing his mistake, Roy cursed himself for playing right into Ed's hands... with his own hands.

"You owe me a wrench, Edward Elric!" Winry called from the throng of people. She would have hurled her own wrench at him if not for Al and the rest of the people between her and Ed.

He gave her an annoyed look. "Only if you don't throw it at me!"

"Run, Roy!" Hughes's shout was heard from somewhere in the crowd as the now-mostly-liquid wrenches continued towards Mustang.

Mustang heeded his friend's advice, just quickly enough to avoid a molten metal shower.

Once he barely evaded the danger, he took a moment to catch his breath and think up a counterattack.

"Already tired, Musty?" Ed yelled by his catapult with a smug look on his face. "You must be too old for this!"

"How is he technically an adult yet still such a brat?" he muttered to himself and rolled his eyes. He decided that, since Fullmetal hadn't prepared a follow-up yet, a good ol' shrimp roasting would do. He gauged Ed's distance from him and aimed a snap.

The blond's eyes widened as Mustang did one of his signature moves. He clapped and slammed his hands onto the ground again hurriedly, transmuting up a wall. It was a tinge too slow, however, and he felt the intense heat of the flames before the wall finished.

"Hey, that almost _killed_ me!" Ed accused, poking his head out from behind the wall to glare at his superior.

Roy raised his brow, thinking back to the whole "flinging wrenches directly at him" thing that had just occurred a minute earlier. "As if _you_ haven't almost killed _me_ before."

"Only through paperwork!"

Roy deadpanned. "Right."

The blond retreated completely behind his wall again as he considered strategies. Meanwhile, his superior returned to a stoic look and slowly stepped in a slight curve, waiting to get in view of the edge of Ed's wall before snapping again.

"You know, Fullmetal," he began to say, the smallest hint of a smirk creeping onto his face. "You must really be short to be able to hide behind such a small wall."

" _We're the same height, idiot!"_ he heard Ed growl from behind the wall.

"Mm, are you sure about that? According to my last calculations, you barely exceeded the height of a speck of dust."

" _...Keep it together, Elric, don't let him win..."_ the other muttered as a chant to himself, and so Roy knew he only needed a final prod. All these years later, Edward was _still_ so explosive.

"What happened to that short fuse of yours? Before, you would've blown up into even smaller bits by now."

He heard a frustrated Ed clap, then transmute something behind his wall. The black-haired general tensed, knowing an attack was soon going to come his way.

"Fullmeta-"

"GRAAAAGH!" came the warcry of the blond as he jumped out from behind his earthen shield before Roy could finish and threw something at him. Surprised by the suddenness of the attack, he snapped at the object on instinct. It detonated in an unusually fiery manner, throwing both men off their feet at the blast. They and those surrounding felt the ground shake for a second at the intensity of whatever it was that just blew up.

They heard their names called out afterward, along with some pairs of feet running closer, but they paid it no mind.

"Was that a bomb?!" Mustang snapped, but this time with his voice rather than his hand. He unsteadily stood back up, clearly ticked off.

"It was just a grenade! Who sets fire to a freaking _grenade?!_ " Ed shouted right back.

"Are you okay?!" Winry interrupted, kneeling down by the blond to check his wounds.

"What? Yeah, I'm fine," he muttered in surprise just as he saw Al standing behind her with a concerned look on his face.

"Good," she said before promptly slapping him upside the head. "You idiot! You nearly killed yourself _and_ General Mustang!"

"But, Winry, he-" Ed tried to explain before getting cut off.

"I thought you were done getting riled up so easily," she scolded.

"And _I_ thought _you_ were done with teasing him, sir," Hawkeye added to Mustang, suddenly appearing behind him.

Roy turned to give her a glare, but his attention was suddenly caught by something near his foot. Was that... a crack in the ground?

"Um, Brother...?" Al questioned as he noticed more cracks surrounding them, all steadily growing deeper and slightly scarier. The rest of the group on the battlefield looked to him and realized they were now all standing on literally unsteady ground.

Everyone held their breath in fear for a minute straight-however, the cracks stopped expanding after a moment and the problem seemed to subside for now.

"...Everyone still okay?" Hawkeye said, noticing the ground didn't seem like it was going to give out quite yet, and they all let out a sigh of relief to still be standing.

" _MUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"_ an unfamiliar voice rang. Apparently, that was all that was needed to trigger the cement to once again deepen its cracks. Some of the largest crevices quickly joined together, and suddenly the ground came crashing down, bringing the group of five tumbling down with it.

"AH!" they all shrieked in unison as they felt their feet stop registering anything beyond empty air.

A cloaked figure appeared next to the giant hole that had swallowed the five people who had been standing there just a couple moments earlier. Before anyone could do anything, the mysterious figure followed the quintet into the hole.

With a big _OOF_ , all of them landed quite ungracefully on top of each other and chunks of cement. They groaned at the pain and rubbed sore spots as they slowly climbed off each other and studied their new location.

"That feels just _splendid_ ," Ed hissed sarcastically before tending to Winry, checking that she wasn't seriously injured. It seemed she was fine, luckily.

"Where are we?" Al asked, confused by what little of their surroundings he could see from the sunlight coming through the hole they'd fallen through. "This doesn't look like the sewers _or_ like the Homunculi's tunnels."

"How can you _see_ anything? I can just tell we're somewhere else because it smells like _dirt_ instead of garbage or god complexes."

"Let's figure out better where we are to find or make an exit," Mustang ordered as he slowly stood and brushed himself off, then helped Hawkeye to her feet. Everyone nodded and the rest of the group began standing up, too, but Winry cried out in pain and collapsed back down.

 **(AN: starts playing** _ **Jaws**_ **music)**

"What's wrong?!" Ed yelped and kneeled back by her again.

"My _leeeg_ ," she answered in a quiet groan, her hands gripping where the pain shot from.

"Is it broken?" Al asked, alarmed and concerned.

"That, or at least fractured," she guessed, as she'd never experienced such a thing herself before.

"Great, just _great,_ " Ed muttered as he tried to lift her off the ground.

"I'm not sure if I'm confident enough in my abilities to try healing it here," Al admitted. If it came to it he'd try, but it wasn't exactly the ideal setting for fixing something like a broken bone.

"I can heal her," a stranger proclaimed out of nowhere, causing the five to jump and look behind them frantically. On the other side of the small pile of cement chunks they'd just picked themselves off of, there stood a man. Being covered in a cloak and mostly hidden in the dark of the underground, he looked more like a shadow than an actual person.

"...Really?" Ed asked skeptically, already deciding that this guy was really creepy.

"How do we know we can trust you?" Mustang narrowed his eyes at the figure.

"I am very proficient in alchemy; I would not be offering if I wasn't absolutely sure it would be a success. Of course, I also would not _dare_ purposefully hurt a young lady."

Alphonse felt a bad vibe come from the situation, but he wasn't sure whether to say so. After all, he learned a lot in Xing, but still doubted how well he knew and could use that knowledge. Against his better judgment, he kept his lips shut.

"It's worth a try," Winry grunted as she tried to stand on her better leg. Ed was surprised by her answer; this must've been very intense pain for her to relent to it so quickly. Before she could try to hop forward, he swept her off her feet and lifted her into his arms bridal style to ensure no further injury. Trusting in her decision, he hesitantly stepped toward the man. The rest of the group lingered behind him, too suspicious of the stranger to leave the blonds alone with him.

Once there were just a couple yards between the cloaked man and the five, the man stepped back and lunged his hands to the ground. They were too slow to react, and so they watched with wide eyes when they were suddenly surrounded by a circle of bright light, crackling and sparking in a very familiar manner, and shapes within the circle subsequently lit up in the same way. A steadily growing cackle much like the laugh heard before they fell came from the shadowed man. He had led them straight into a giant transmutation circle.

They all shouted in horror, especially once the tint of the light went from blue to a very worrying purple, and a few reached their arms toward the stranger with fiery eyes, but none could escape the activated transmutation in time. They saw a glimpse of a crazed grin under the hood of the figure's cloak before their vision was invaded by purple sparks, and they heard that same vile laughter until everything went black.

* * *

 **Lily: *clicks off the "Jaws" music with a giant grin***

 **Esmi: MUWHAHAHAHAHA! This cliffhanger is brought to you by the shadowy figure tormenting our heroes :)**

 **Yue: Ja ne my little hell raisers! 3 And remember to come to the dark side because we have Monster, Rockstar, and cookies that I will never share!**


	5. Chapter 5: Those Left Behind

**AN: Lili: Guess who owns nothing (but OCs) in this story? Answer: Us! :D We are poor...! ;-;**

 **Esmi: *consoles lili* it's ok Lili.**

 **Lili: *falls down on the ground, and just lies there* No, it's not! I don't want to be poooooooor!**

 **Esmi: come on stop being so dramatic XD everything's gonna be just fine.**

 **Lili: I sure hope it will be once I'm out of college... Otherwise, the world has lied to me.**

 **Esmi: If you don't quit being so dramatic then you're not getting any of the cookies i just baked! *holds up cookies to emphasize point***

 **Lili: *immediately sits up, eyes sparkling like Winry around automail* COOKIES?!**

 **Esmi: Yep *pops 'p'* but only if you're gonna act your age. *holds cookies out of Lili's reach***

 **Lili: I can do that! *stands up* *clears throat* Did you see My Story on Snapchat (which I don't actually have)? Let's binge-watch** _ **Friends**_ **on Netflix instead of study! Memes everywhere! AVOCADO TOAST!**

 **Esmi: *pulls out comically large anime fan* Oh Lili….. *sinister smirk***

 **Lili: No, don't! D: *about to run away, but then remembers I might still get a cookie* Uh... UHHH... I'm mature, I promise?**

 **Esmi: *brandishes fan* then why don't i believe you. *deadpans***

 **Lili: ...Probably because I'm just doing this to get a cookie.**

 **Esmi: *locks up the cookies* *does best Gandalf impression* YOU SHALL NOT PASS!**

 **Lili: *lying on the ground again* Nooooooooo!... *looks up to readers with sad puppy-eyes* Well, I hope you guys will have more fun reading this chapter than I'm having right now...**

* * *

Those Left Behind

"Yes... Yes! It actually worked!" he exclaimed, pleased but still mildly shocked his strange transmutation had apparently done what it was supposed to. He released the last of his unhinged chuckles as he inspected his handiwork again. Yes, he was the first to create such a masterpiece. Perhaps not the first to think of doing such a thing, but what was important was that he _succeeded_.

"Everything is going according to plan," he breathed out joyfully. "Yes, this step, one of the hardest to complete, is done with. Only need to go back to the surface to go to Phase Two. Perfect. It's going perfect- no, _better_ than perfect! I am rid of the most powerful alchemists in Central and the whole country! Nothing can stop me!"

He thought he was alone in his musings, but there was, in fact, someone nearby that could hear his evil thinking-out-loud-a young Xingese woman hidden in the shadows.

This man's words greatly worried her. "This doesn't sound good, Xiao Mei," she whispered to her black-and-white companion. "Mr. Baddie..." she added with a gulp, using the new name she had dubbed the stranger with, "...he managed to make them all disappear."

Yes, the transmutation circle was devoid of the people that once stood on top of it. Not a trace left of the five Amestrians.

"Let's go warn the people above ground," she decided quickly, and the panda nodded back in agreement. Just as she was about to race off to find the fastest way back up, she heard the noise of a transmutation taking place. She turned to see that it was Mr. Baddie. He had activated another circle that drew the ground in into a tall pillar and lifted him up, just as she had seen other alchemists like the Elrics do. Not giving herself a chance to rethink it, she leaped and grabbed a hold of the pillar as it continued to lengthen and become taller and taller.

The man kept the transmutation going until he reached above ground, and he jumped off surprisingly gracefully. She started climbing the side of the pillar to reach the top so she could also jump off. As she did so, she could hear the announcement the stranger was giving to the crowd surrounding the large hole.

"Ahahahaha!" he cackled, sending a shiver up her and Xiao Mei's backs as they forged on. "Before any of you know it, Amestris will be _mine_ , and no one will be able to stop me! Just watch!"

Everyone gaped at the proclamation of this tall, broad-shouldered stranger with a few pieces of dark, longish hair in view from beneath the hood of his cloak. However, before they could do anything else due to his ridiculous-sounding claim, he was gone just as mysteriously as he had appeared.

May made it to the surface and quickly moved away from the hole, hoping to find a familiar face who would trust she was saying the truth. She spotted a few she had seen at the Promised Day years ago, but none she had really talked to before.

When a blonde woman who screamed authority with her presence and that she somewhat recognized stepped forward, she decided the choice had been made for her. She hurried over to the woman, who then barked a question to her. "Are you an accomplice of that man?"

"Huh? Oh, no!" she quickly denied, then bowed to the woman. "I am here to inform what I saw him do below ground."

"You know what happened to the people that fell, then?" a man asked hurriedly when he'd pushed his way through the crowd to reach the two.

"Yes. Unfortunately, it was nothing good. Edward, Alphonse, and those that were with them were transmuted and are now gone."

Both the eyes of the man and woman widened, though the latter recovered faster. "They are _gone?_ " she repeated, and May nodded her head with a sad and concerned look on her face.

"How do you know the Elric brothers?" the man questioned, surprising her with the topic change. But she realized he'd want to know in order to know whether to trust her word. After all, anyone that was good friends with them was undoubtedly a trustworthy person.

"I met them some years ago, a few months before the Promised Day. And I'm currently... um..." She began to blush. "...In a relationship with Alphonse."

The man's eyebrows went up at the confession, but he didn't press further on the subject. Rather, he then turned to the blonde woman. "And did _you_ know the Elrics? Or Mustang and Hawkeye?"

"It seems you do not recognize me," she answered him cooly. "I am Major General Olivier Armstrong, the head of Briggs. I believe we have met before, at least briefly."

The man scrunched his face as he attempted to remember. May took note of the scar on his forehead and wondered if that had to do with his apparent forgetfulness. He eventually got out of the thinking expression as his face lit up. "Right, the Wall of Briggs! What're you doing in Central?"

"I heard my younger brother Alex has been acting in such a way that disgraces our family even more than he has already. I came to put an end to it." The vague explanation was ominous enough for neither to want to ask for more details.

"Are you an officer, too, sir?" May asked as she looked to the man, wondering how he would know this woman otherwise.

"Technically, though I don't do much active duty, as you can probably imagine," he said good naturedly, thumping his cane down to prove his point. "Name's Maes Hughes," he introduced. He then steered the conversation back to the subject at hand. "So how exactly did they disappear?"

"Well, I thought at first it was Human Transmutation..." she began gravely. "But this was different. I don't think they were being sent to the Gate."

"Explain," Olivier ordered simply.

"Well, I witnessed Human Transmutation on the Promised Day-" She paused, for remembering the occasion was not very pleasant. She had been so terrified when it happened. With composure regained, she went on, "When sent to the Gate, it's usually like whoever's in the circle is disintegrating, but this was more like... a flash, I think. And there were no black hands, as I've been told usually happens. So I have concluded that they were not sent to the Gate, but they were still sent... _somewhere._ "

Olivier nodded, apparently accepting that answer. Hughes was still befuddled, though. "But if it didn't send them to the Gate, then you're saying it was somewhere else on Earth! Alchemy isn't able to _teleport_ people!"

"You are the girl who knew alkahestry the Elrics asked us to find years ago, correct?" another voice said from behind the Major General. All turned to see her right-hand-man, Miles, enter the conversation. "Would alkahestry be able to move people from one place to another?"

May raised her eyebrows at him, then took a moment to go through her mental store of knowledge before answering. "Transmutations can be done from one place to another, but objects-or people-cannot be transferred from one circle to another through transmutation. As far as I am aware, no, alkahestry cannot, and neither can alchemy-but there is no other explanation for what just happened."

There was a moment of intense thinking within the group. Hughes ultimately was the one to break the silence. "We should go down there and investigate this further. There may be a clue as to what really happened."

"How should we go about doing that?" Olivier questioned, gazing down the hole.

" _I_ may be of assistance!" came the very familiar roar of Alex Louis Armstrong, buffer and louder than ever. "My alchemy is-"

"Yeah, yeah, we know," Maes interrupted. "We appreciate the help-...er, what's your rank again?"

"Major!" he chirped happily, then turned to Olivier. "It is great to see you, Sister!"

"I already told you to call me by my rank," she snapped back in reply immediately. "And get on with it already."

"Y-yes, ma'am..." he muttered nervously, then shuffled toward the mouth of the hole. He calculated mentally for a few seconds before flexing his arm and slamming the ground with his circle-engraved glove. Blue sparks shot up, and the ground formed itself at his will to a long staircase along the edge of the hole, reaching all the way down to where the missing group had fallen.

He looked to his sister for approval, who only offered a "You finally did something right for once" as she brushed by him to begin going down the steps.

He still sparkled at the praise as he followed her and the others down.

They eventually reached the bottom, Hughes being the slowest to accomplish the act. Upon all the soldiers' arrival, May directed their attention to the large transmutation circle.

"This thing is definitely out of my league," Hughes said, not comprehending any part of it. He'd once learned a small amount of basic alchemical symbols from Roy, but none of those appeared here.

Alex Armstrong hummed in agreement. "It is out of mine, as well. This is unlike anything I have ever seen before."

"Would you be able to decipher it with time?" his sister asked him seriously.

"Perhaps partly, yes, but it would take far too long. This would be a job for the Elric brothers," he responded, looking over the complex and highly-advanced circle.

"Unfortunately, they are the very ones who have disappeared," Miles added with a frown set on his face.

"So the man who did this truly isn't a complete imbecile," Olivier reasoned.

"But why take Winry, General Mustang, and Lieutenant Colonel Hawkeye?" May asked, rather perplexed.

"I doubt Winry was a target, but the rest of them surely are. Think about it," Hughes directed at her, "Ed and Al are very well-known as fantastic alchemists, and Mustang is both talented at alchemy and of a very high position in the military. If anyone was going to stop the country from being destroyed, it'd be them. They've already done it, in fact. He may have even targeted Lt. Col. Hawkeye, too, knowing she was a force to be reckoned with. Considering the claims made by the man who did this, I have little doubt that this was exactly what he meant to do, and did not care that a few others got into the transmutation too."

"Exactly," Olivier agreed. "If he was able to accomplish this, then this is truly a danger against the security of our nation. His intentions are clear."

"We've gotta catch Mr. Baddie as soon as possible, then!" May blurted worriedly.

"...Mr. Baddie?" Maes repeated in confusion. Upon realizing what she'd just said, May's face quickly reddened, but he laughed in amusement at the name itself and not her. "I like it; it fits."

"It is not as menacing as 'Scar', but is just as creative," Olivier muttered. She studied the evidence left behind once more, and then declared, "I have decided to make this an official investigation, and it shall be under my jurisdiction. I will also stay in Central temporarily to fulfill General Mustang's duties until his return."

They all looked quite surprised, but the first to voice it aloud was Alex. "Are you sure about this, Sis- er, Major General?"

"Positive. My men can take care of themselves, and will understand the importance of seeing this through." She gazed upon them all, as if daring them to argue against her. When none of them made a move, she nodded and began pacing back toward the staircase. She turned around at the foot of the first step. "You are all on this case with me-including you, alkahestry girl. Continue investigating here and report to my new office with your findings. I am putting you-" here she focused on Hughes, who saluted in reply- "in charge of information-gathering and analyzing, along with any other similar responsibilities you specialize in. Bring in any other soldiers to assist and guard you that you trust. Further duties for all of you will be assigned upon meeting me in the office." She gave the group a steady glare, warning them that they better not let her down. "Meanwhile, I have some things to attend to." She turned back around and began going back up to upper ground, leaving them in the hole with no further words.

Once it was obvious she planned on saying nothing more, Hughes turned to his apparent new teammates and sighed with a little smile. "Well, I guess we should start working on finding Mr. Baddie."


	6. Chapter 6: Arrival

**Yue: Ohayo, my little hell-raisers! Guess who had caffeine! ;3**

 **Lily: *points at Yue***

 **Esmi: *watches Yue run off again* And there she goes.**

 **Lily: I think this happens a lot to her...**

 **Esmi: Maybe she should switch to decaf.**

 **Lily: We own nothing but our OCs and some of the plot, blah blah blah, on with the chapter! Whoa, look at her go! *watches Yue some more***

* * *

Arrival

A sudden neon light burst out in the middle of a green field, depositing the bodies of five foreigners before leaving just as suddenly as it came.

They all lay in a disheveled fashion on the grass, the only indication they were actually alive being the soft up and down movement of their chests. A few minutes later, one of them began to stir with a sleepy groan.

This particular blonde, one that had been fortunate enough to be at the top of the pile, slowly lifted up her head and winced at both the pain coming from her leg and the milder pain in her head. She was jarred as she attempted to sit up, and she suddenly realized that, not only was she not in her bed, but she was on top of something that was _breathing._ She yelped and looked down, then sighed in relief that she at least recognized her "mattress". But that brought a whole new set of questions, which she decided to leave for after she'd studied their surroundings more.

She gasped as she only succeeded in finding trees as far as the eye could see-not a single soul in sight besides those underneath her, although she could hear the scurrying of little animals and the cheerful chirping of birds in the distance. Tall trees and shrubs covered in purple flowers rose around her, close enough to each other that their roots often collided with those of their neighbors. This place seemed like it could possibly exist in Amestris, but for whatever reason, she _knew_ this was someplace completely different. Maybe a different tint to the leaves, or something odd in the air... Whatever the case, they were definitely not in Central, nor any other place she recognized.

And they were _abandoned._

She screamed.

Her "mattress" suddenly started to move on its own, as her companions started rising with complaints and grumbles flowing out their mouths. She let out a smaller startled scream as she fell off from the force of the blond who was unlucky enough to end up at the bottom.

"What the heck, Winry?!" he yelled, unhappy to be woken up so suddenly, and also grumpy from the buzzing headache that felt all too familiar. He pushed all the weight off of him and rubbed at his head with his flesh hand. "Could you at least make your screaming less whiny?"

"Well, excuse me for noticing we're in the _middle of nowhere!_ " she rebutted after recovering from her fall.

He was about to grumble some more, but then he really registered what she just said. "Eh?" He suddenly remembered what happened before he passed out-a crazy guy had activated a transmutation circle underneath their feet. "EH?" He frantically looked around, spotting only a beautiful green woodland with the sun barely shining through to the forest floor, indicating it was the afternoon. It was a place he could imagine appreciating if they'd _intended_ to be there _._ He quickly came to the same conclusion as Winry and shouted in horror. " _EH?!"_

His own reaction caused more movement around them, and the rest of their ragtag group was pulling itself off the ground.

"What's wrong, Brother?" another blond groaned. He yelped as he was suddenly grabbed by the shoulders and shaken back and forth.

"WE'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF A FOREST WITH NO ONE AROUND AND NO EXPLANATION, _THAT'S_ WHAT'S WRONG!"

Al's eyes widened at Ed's proclamation as he too looked around and saw nothing but trees. "WHAT DO WE DO, BROTHER?!"

"DO SOMETHING, ED!" Winry screamed in a panic, _this_ close to smacking him with her wrench. If only she knew where it went...

It was now Mustang's turn to join in on the ensuing chaos. "You are all going to blow out my eardrums at this rate!" he grumbled. A quick lookover of their surroundings was enough to quiet him for a moment.

"...What did you do, Fullmetal?"

Ed bristled at the automatic accusation. "How is this _my_ fault?!"

"Everything's always your fault."

"Oh, yes, of _course_ I'm to blame for some crazy guy deciding to _attack_ us and then _teleport_ us to wherever this is!"

Everyone else finally recalled the prior events and began to shout all over again.

Well, except for Hawkeye, who had had enough and whipped out her gun, shooting a bullet up into the canopy of leaves covering them. All eyes suddenly moved to her in shock.

"Hawkeye, what-"

"You need to calm down, sir," she stated, giving them all a bit of an irritated glare.

"But-"

"With all due respect, sir, freaking out is not going to help the situation."

"What should we do?" Winry asked worriedly after giving herself a moment to take a deep breath.

"We should probably start with administering first-aid on your leg," the Lt. Col. suggested, her eyes drawn to the younger girl's injury. At this point, it was not looking so good.

Ed immediately scooted over to see what he could do to help, while Al wore a thoughtful frown and said, "We would most likely be able to survive in these woods for a while with my and Brother's knowledge, but we need help for Winry."

"Then we should get back to civilization as soon as possible," Mustang continued decidedly, picking out a few sturdy sticks on the ground that could possibly be tied to Winry's leg as a splint, as was protocol for broken limbs.

Ed turned to his brother after receiving the sticks, wondering if he was willing to try out his alkahestry this time after hesitating before. "You sure you're not ready to...?"

Al chewed on his lip anxiously as he examined the swollen limb of his childhood friend and their surroundings. The problem with the medical alchemy of the East was that it required even more concentration and precision than normal alchemy in order to accomplish any good. Even with his extensive background in different kinds of complicated transmutations, two years was not enough to gain the required comprehension and experience to treat deeper or internal wounds like May could. He'd honestly fully intended to return after a few weeks of hanging out with his brother and sister-in-law.

Would he actually get to see May again?

Instead of building up his confidence in his abilities, the thought only made him feel worse. He was sure he wasn't good enough to take on this patient. In fact, it was likely he would make her condition worse.

He sighed and shook his head at his brother, looking like he felt very guilty and useless. Nonetheless, he wasn't berated by the other blond; Ed understood alkahestry was incredibly difficult.

"I guess that means an actual doctor is in order," Ed sighed out as he finished tying the sticks with strips of fabric he ripped off his coat, making no further comment to his brother. "How are we supposed to find our way out of here?" he questioned as he helped Winry stand. She leaned precariously on him, but at least her other leg was fine.

"Assuming there _is_ civilization nearby, we should probably be looking for a trail," Alphonse guessed.

The rest of the group nodded in agreement, since it was just about the only decent idea anyone could come up with. Ed managed to get Winry on his back (with Al's assistance) to carry her, and they began the trek.

v^-^v

"Um... are you guys sure we're going the right way?"

Everyone answered Winry's question with a monotone "No."

"We're bound to find _something_ eventually," Al said unsuredly, glancing up to her.

"Yeah, this isn't Gluttony's stomach," Ed grumbled as he trudged on, going slower since he was still carrying Winry on his back.

It seemed like hours had gone by, and they had found no indication of actually making it out of this dense forest.

"Well at least I'm not sinking every five minutes like when we were in the deserts around Reole," Al said in an attempt at humor.

"Oh yeah, that absolutely sucked back then," his brother commented with an annoyed frown, though a bit relieved that they didn't have that problem anymore.

"Why was Al sinking?" Winry asked with a raised brow.

"Because the desert to the east is absolutely awful and has _way_ too much sand!" Ed ranted, getting all worked up again over how much he hated deserts. "It's ridiculous!"

"Still doesn't tell me why Al kept sinking," Winry chided, bonking Ed on the head with her fist since she didn't have her trusty wrench.

Ed carefully lifted his hand to rub at his head irritably and rolled his eyes, so Al took up answering the question. "All the sand kept going into my armor and dragging me down. It was really-" He paused as he stared off in a seemingly random direction, causing the rest of the group to look back at him confusedly.

"What's wrong, Alphonse?" Mustang questioned, trying to figure out what happened with him.

"I... I think I found a trail!" the blond cried out as he rushed over to find out if he was right. The others carefully picked their way through the underbrush as they followed him, and felt overjoyed to see a well-beaten path maneuvering around the trees. It was clearly manmade.

The Amestrians suddenly regained some strength at the stroke of good luck and quickly set themselves on the trail. Now they definitely would make it out of here.

Le line break

Their newly-acquired vigor dimmed fast. They were all feeling hungry and tired, but they were also not willing to take a break and risk losing the daylight filtering in through the leaves of the tall trees. And so the group forged on silently, growing increasingly bitter.

The tense silence broke when they came across a fork in the road, which split the trail off into two directions.

"And our luck is ruined," Mustang muttered, glaring at the paths that now laid before them.

"I can't believe you led us into this situation, Al!" Ed shouted, directing his irritation with their position onto his unsuspecting brother.

"What?!" Alphonse turned to him and returned the favor. "How was _I_ supposed to know this would happen, Brother?!"

"It's still your fault!"

"Actually, I'm pretty sure it's _yours!_ " the younger Elric spat back. " _You_ were the one who tossed _grenades_ and then walked towards the sketchy guy, leading us right into a trap!"

"Are you forgetting that Mustang set the grenades on _fire_ like a complete idiot?! Or you could argue it's actually _Winry's_ fault!" Ed pointed his thumb to the girl on his back, who looked furious at the accusation. " _She_ decided to trust that sketchy guy!"

"Uh, excuse me, have you ever had a _broken leg_ before?!" she shrieked.

Ed merely scoffed. "You're going to try that argument with _us?!_ I've dealt with much worse than a broken leg! Bring it on!"

"This is _not_ the time to be fighting," Hawkeye interrupted, looking just as irritated as the bickering trio.

"We don't want to deal with your short temper right now, Fullmetal," Mustang barked, preparing to snap his fingers together in frustration.

The Lt. Col. slapped his hand down with a surprising ferocity. "General! We are in the middle of a _forest_ right now!"

"I thought you were done with calling me short, you jerk!" Ed fumed.

"He was complaining about your hotheadedness, idiot!" Winry shouted at him.

"I am _not_ above dropping you _right now_ , Winry!"

"That's a horrible thing to say, Brother!"

"Well, life isn't all rainbows and sparkles like Major Armstrong, now is it?" A tick mark was growing on Ed's forehead.

"SHUT IT!" Mustang yelled, seething to the point of his face actually turning red, seriously contemplating frying Fullmetal despite his Lt. Colonel's warning.

"We are all adults here, and we should be _acting like it_ ," Hawkeye snapped in a dangerous tone. "It doesn't matter who's to blame, we just need to get out of here."

The group didn't seem to be very happy with her berating, but nonetheless complied. Only Ed was left muttering curses under his breath.

"Now," Hawkeye said after a deep breath, finally regaining a bit of her usual patience, "what should we do?"

"Does one of them look like it has been used more often?" Mustang sighed out, rubbing the side of his face.

All five stepped forward to investigate the separate paths. Unfortunately, they could not agree on which was the path less travelled, so they tried thinking of other sorts of indications of which they should take, none of which sounded convincing.

"Well, the yellow leaves fallen here are still not black yet," Winry added sagely as she looked down the path as far as she could from Ed's back.

"What the heck is that supposed to mean?" Ed questioned, looking over his shoulder. She just shrugged in reply.

"Can anyone think of something else?" Al pleaded as he racked his own brain for ideas.

Ed's impatience reared its head after a few minutes passed with no one speaking up. "Okay, you know what? How about we just go right?"

"Why right?" Mustang asked, raising his eyebrow, wondering if he was going to like the answer.

"Because right is always right." Before anyone could protest his "logic", he marched down the side of the fork he had suggested, giving everyone no choice but to follow him unless they wanted to split up. No one voiced any interest in that option, however..

"You know, if you're wrong about this, we really _can_ push all the blame on you," Winry pointed out to him.

"Yeah, I know, but I'm always right, so we have nothing to worry about."

"But the wife's always right, not the husband."

The withering glare he sent her way made her chuckle a bit, finally lightening her mood a bit, leading the way for everyone else to act more amicably.

It was nearing nighttime when it seemed trees were becoming not as densely-packed, raising everyone's hopes. Just a few minutes more, and they were shouting for joy because they had actually found their way out of that never-ending forest! And they could spot a few rooftops peeking over walls in the distance!

Indeed, it seemed to the quintet that Ed's whim of a decision had made all the difference.

* * *

 **Lily: I like to think that, ironically, either way would have gotten them to civilization in the same amount of time and effort. XD**

 **Esmi: But I like my allusion better. Brownie points for anyone that spotted it.**

 **Lily: Can I just have brownies?**

 **Scae: I'm baaack! Also, Lily stole my comment. *sigh***

 **Lily: *puts on innocent face***

 **Scae: I've been busy with my own things since the first chapter, but I have rejoined the** _ **quest**_ **to make this fic as good as possible. (Get it?) Anywho, it turns out that in German (to which I've more than once seen Amestris compared) 'correct' and 'not left' use the same word,** _ **recht**_ **.**

 **Lily: The best puns are the ones that work in multiple languages! We totally earned brownies for that!... Even though that was about something different.**

 **Esmi: But I can't give real brownies to people in a virtual world! *pouts***

 **Lily: Or** _ **can you?**_ **:}**

 **Scae: Also, I will be beta reading this section. There was a comment to the opposite effect in a previous A/N. No more.**

 **Esmi: Well, we have been fishing for betas, and you're the first bite we've had. XD**

 **Scae: But I don't even like seafood! Mou…**

 **Esmi: All puns aside, welcome back to the team! ^^v**

 **Scae: Doomo! And now I'm hungry. But not for fish, beta, tuna, or otherwise. Well, hope you enjoyed the chapter! I'm off to the kitchen for some yakisoba.**

 **Esmi: XD**


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